Rhode Island trip! Whoop whoop!

I'm pretty much the luckiest person ever, that my parents would be willing to watch my kids for the weekend so I could go visit Pete. When I told Park I was going, he said, "What? I miss dad too!" Sorry bud, but I'm about to fly with you cross country in a month. Not doing that twice back to back. But the boys had plenty of fun at home with Grammy and Papa. 

And I had plenty of fun on this little vacation. It was so amazing because we had no agenda we had to stick to. No house hunting, no weddings, no early mornings. It was perfect. So I flew out on Friday morning (early!) and flew into Chicago around lunch time. Potbelly's (my favorite sandwich place from Ann Arbor) was literally steps away from my gate. Now that is divine intervention. 

So I got myself a clubby. It was amazing. 

 After that I boarded the plane for Rhode Island. I flew Southwest and had a great experience. Everything was on time, I watched direct TV from my phone the entire flight, they gave snacks, plenty of legroom. Definitely recommend Southwest.

Then Pete picked me up (in uniform, as he was coming straight from class), and it was great to see him. It had been 6 weeks since I'd seen him. Anyone reading this who has a husband deployed you are probably rolling your eyes because I'm so lucky Pete's even accessible during this time away, but this was the longest stint for us of being apart. It was so good to see him.

We immediately went to the Officer's Club for dinner. It was right on the water and had the most beautiful view of Newport. We ate with one of us fellow JAG's and his wife. Very fun to meet them. He is meeting the most fascinating people through this training.

 The accommodations he's been in are quite nice. It's like a hotel room, where they come and clean up the room every day, but he also has a fridge and microwave. He also has his Vitamix so he can make smoothies. The bed is literally the most comfortable one I have ever slept in. I kept telling him how good he has it here, as I remind him I am sleeping with Parker who ends up perpendicular in the bed by morning. He agreed I have it harder right now.

In the morning, he went and did a 10 mile run (because he's training for a marathon and he does stuff like that... crazy!) and then we went to the traditional post-run lunch at Mama Leone's, a great restaurant right off the base. Fellow JAG and marathon runner Dennis met us there. Dennis ordered the large calzone just so I could see how enormous it was. Baffling.

 Then we went and drove around downtown Newport. The boat show was in town, so there were lots of east coast folks walking around with popped collars and cardigans tied around their shoulders. The area has some of the most beautiful mansions I've ever seen. Some are traditional Cape Cod style, but some are much older looking. Everything looks kind of haunted in my opinion. We also did the cliff walk, which runs along the main street of mansions. Really cool.

 Yeah, we were pretty happy to be in the same state:)

 For dinner we went to Anthony's, a local seafood market and restaurant. It was delish. Pete had swordfish and I had calamari.

 The next day, we drove up to Boston. It was only about an hour and 15 minutes. We were able to park in the Coast guard parking lot (thank you military perks), and that saved us a lot of money and hassle. Boston is super fun to walk around. We walked the freedom trail and saw some of the sites.

 We even saw the perfect hotel for Parker to stay at when he comes to visit next time:)

 Boston Commons.

Then we had a great traditional italian meal. 

 Pete and I are similar type tourists. We like to see things, and then move on. We don't dig real deep into the sights. It's kind of embarrassing how much ground we covered in one day, but it fit our style. Next we drove out to see Harvard. Neat. Then onto Plymouth. Saw the rock. Check. Walked around the cute little town in hopes of finding a pastry. Boston was booming with patisseries. Plymouth, not so much. Pete really wanted a cannoli, but then he found out it was filled with a ricotta mixture (Pete doesn't like riccota), so then he changed his plan. He wanted Boston cream pie instead. We ended up betting a boston cream donut from a local place and it was great. We also experienced a cro-nut for the first time. Very filling, but very good.

 Following Plymouth, we still had some daylight to kill so we drove out to Cape Cod.  Cute area, but we didn't really know what to see or do there, so we just drove around. The drive back was so beautiful. There were lots of accidents on the main highway, so the detour we took ended up being great for seeing traditional cape cod style homes and beautiful waterways.

 For dinner, we ended up in downtown Newport again, and went to a great little pub.

On Monday, Pete had class, so I bummed around downtown some more, exercised, and then met he and about 8 of his buddies for "wing night" at the O Club. Those guys are serious about their $.30 wings. Then I left early EARLY the next morning. It was a great trip, and it felt like we had so much time together. We are three weeks away from moving, and we are so ready. The boys talk about him all the time and Austin especially has become much more sensitive and has been crying for daddy.

I walked away from this trip feeling more proud to be a military wife. So far, I haven't really felt connected to the community, but staying on base for a few days, you realize what an important job it is that Pete is doing. He's not just a lawyer, he's a lawyer working on behalf of the US. His role is vast in contributing to various functions of the military. He is meeting fascinating people, who are equally passionate about their duty to serve. As much as I hate being apart for so long, I'm not the only one doing this. There are wives and children all over the country who are apart from the person they love, and we do it not because it isn't a big deal, but we do it because our country depends on people who are willing to serve and make sacrifices. We aren't apart because he's a regular lawyer. He is training to contribute to a very important cause, that ultimately serves every person in our nation. I'm proud that he followed his dream to serve our country and our hope is that our boys will grow up with a greater sense of appreciation for the military, for our freedom, and for our family. Being apart has been the hardest thing I've ever done as a parent, but we've done it. We are capable of doing hard things and getting through times where the circumstances are not ideal. I know we will look back on this time (5 months total of being apart) and realize the blessings and the growth that came from it. And for that I am thankful and hopeful for the future.